For the Best in Vintage Trains

At Yard Goat Images, we don’t just feature the same handful of trains you find on other sites.

We’ve gone out of our way to cover trains and train subjects that have been ignored for far too long. We even take you to festivals, special events and museums that celebrate America’s long love affair with the historic steam train.

Browse our online catalog! Use the Sort by to find the DVDs you’re looking for. You can also Search products in the search box to your right by entering a word or number (frisco, 261, etc.) Click on the DVD covers for full descriptions and video preview. Some items are available in money-saving Combo Sets. We accept all major credit cards. Payment by check can also be made.

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In Our Store

Browse our online catalog! Use the Sort by to find the DVDs you’re looking for. You can also Search products in the search box to your right by entering a word or number (frisco, 261, etc.) Click on the DVD covers for full descriptions and video preview. Some items are available in money-saving Combo Sets. We accept all major credit cards. Payment by check can also be made.

Steam Into History - The First Year

1460

A significant chapter in North American railroading was born in 2013 as Steam into History began operating between the towns of New Freedom and Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania.

This line was once part of the Northern Central Railway. During the American Civil War, the Northern Central transported supplies and troops for the Union Army, and was itself a military target when rebel troops destroyed much of the railroad. After the Battle of Gettysburg, the railroad moved wounded troops through the towns to hospitals in northern cities. Abraham Lincoln changed trains at Hanover Junction as he traveled to the scene of this horrific battle and made his famous Gettysburg Address. Seventeen months later, Lincoln was assassinated. His funeral train went from Washington DC to Springfield, Illinois through major cities and small towns, including New Freedom and Hanover Junction. The depot where Lincoln stopped at Hanover Junction remains today.

Recognizing the significance of this railroad line, the founders of Steam into History set out to create a unique attraction which would appeal to a wide audience. They commissioned David Kloke to build a replica 4-4-0 locomotive. Mr. Kloke earlier had built another 4-4-0, the Leviathan, which we also see operating at Steam into History during its first season.

Footage for our program was created through repeated visits from June through November by videographer Jonathan Eau Claire. Chronicling equipment and operating changes, many special events, reenactments, and the changing of the seasons, this program is a fine documentary of Steam into History’s first season!

As always, there is minimal narration. The running time approximately 93 minutes.

Custom DVD programs are more than just entertainment or something to sell. They can help inform casual visitors about the historical significance of your venue, the art of restoration and interpretation, and build awareness for the continuing need for volunteers and contributors to ensure future preservation.

Who can use custom DVD programs?

Mainline excursion railroads

Trolley operating museums

Railroad attractions

Live steam and garden railway clubs

Commercial short lines

Regional carriers

Transit agencies

Custom DVD programs can be sold in your gift shop and on your website. What’s more, they can be used for promotional purposes such as contributor premiums, grant proposals, and marketing tools.

About our custom DVD services…

Custom DVDs are printed, packaged in a DVD case with full color graphics.

Video Editing

If you already have quality footage, we can edit your material to produce a DVD.

How custom DVD programs will benefit your Museum, Attraction or Club

Your customers are more likely to buy a DVD if it is about YOUR operation vs. a general railroad subject.

A DVD retailing at your store for $20-25 will produce additional revenue for your organization.

A custom DVD will showcase what you are doing:

Restoring

Operating

Preserving

Volunteering

Entertaining

Educating & interpreting

Enhancing community

Bringing visitors to the area

Having fun

Not only can you sell a custom DVD in your shop or online, but you can also offer it as a premium for contributing to your annual appeal or special fundraiser.

A professionally produced custom DVD will enhance the image of your operation.

High quality video with interesting shots in different lighting and weather conditions

Tripod mounted cameras

Special attention to sound quality and minimizing wind noise

Tight editing

Incorporation of still images into the video

Interesting effects and transitions

Narration and titles or titles only

Chapters

Licensed music

We can also produce training and safety programs for your volunteers, or other video projects you have in mind.

We can produce a master program or several unique programs for promotion, customer sales, investor information, employee incentives, safety, online sales, etc.

A custom DVD about your operation could:

Highlight your normal operations (and perhaps a few staged scenes)

Demonstrate your core competencies, reliability, and safety

Emphasize good management of facilities and equipment

Clarify the mission of your operation

Incorporate historic photos and film/video footage if available

Provide contact information

Call us with your ideas!

Commercial & Transit Benefits

A custom DVD should retail for $20-25 and will produce income for your operation if you choose to sell copies to the general public

A custom DVD will showcase the good things you are doing:

Operating proficiently

Providing good jobs

Performing your functions safely

Involving the communities you serve

Showing your concern for the environment

Promoting the benefits of rail transportation

Creating an enjoyable program for the viewer

A professionally produced custom DVD will enhance the image of your operation

High quality video with interesting shots in different lighting and weather conditions

Tripod mounted cameras

Special attention to sound quality and minimizing wind noise

Tight editing

Incorporation of still images into the video

Interesting effects and transitions

Narration and titles or titles only

Chapters

Licensed music

We can also produce training and safety programs for your employees, or other video projects you have in mind.

Video on Demand

Many of our programs are now available ON DEMAND!

Instead of ordering a DVD, paying shipping costs, and waiting patiently until the mail carrier arrives, you can now view select stories streamed directly to your internet-connected television or portable device. You could be watching one of your favorite locomotives in just a few minutes from right now!

Read Our Reviews

Yard Goat...funny name

A yard goat is an old rail term for locomotives that stay in the railroad yards, shuffling cars from track to track, and generally keeping things in order. Yard goats can be a specially made type of locomotive for this task, but often are re-purposed “road” engines with too many miles or simply too tattered for their former work.

When we think of steam or diesel locomotives, most people picture the powerful engines used to pull heavy freight trains, or streamlined beauties on the front of a fast passenger train. Few would remember the lowly yard goat that keeps things running smoothly, accurately, and on time.

Just as stagehands work in the dim light to move props or musical instruments when the stars have left the stage, the yard goatshuffles the cars behind the scenes in massive railroad yards.

Why we call ourselves Yard Goat Images…

We picked the name Yard Goat Images because we like what it stands for. We respect and admire those who work hard behind the scenes preserving, maintaining, and operating historic equipment. Many of these people are volunteers. Without them there would be no steam engines operating at museums, attractions, or pulling mainline excursions. There would be no streetcars or interurbans to ride.

We want you to see what they have accomplished, and the amazing work they continue to perform. Our aim is to celebrate what they do, and deliver a great program to you featuring this historic equipment.

So, I like to think we too are kind of like that humble railroad yard goat, not glamorous but working hard, making sure you can see a variety of operating historic railroad equipment courtesy of a bunch of pretty great people.

Midwest Steam 2009, Parts 1 and 2

Although no one would mistake it for the early 1990s, summer 2009 was a good season for large U.S. steam locomotives, anchored by the Steam Railroading Institute’s Train Festival 2009 in Owosso, Mich. The iron horses put on a fine show across the Midwest, as captured by the Yard Goat Images video crew. The star performer was Southern Pacific Daylight 4-8-4 No. 4449, which traveled cross-country from Portland, Ore., to join the festival. This DVD has some stirring action sequences of the Daylight engine roaring across North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, in both directions, in addition to its more subdued operations at Owosso.

Sharing the limelight at Owosso (and also in a separate sequence in North Judson, Ind.) is Nickel Plate 2-8-4 No. 765, looking fabulous after its overhaul. The only disappointment is Pete Marquette 2-8-4 No. 1225: The institute’s ”host engine” was on restricted duty due to a mechanical problem.The producers round out the Midwest big-steam action with some nice scenes of Soo Line 4-6-2 No. 2719 performing out of Duluth, Minn., at the 2009 National Railway Historical Society convention, as well as a glimpse of an impressive newcomer: Santa Fe 4-6-2 No. 3415, fresh from its restoration on the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad in Abilene, Kan. Throw in some additional scenes in Michigan of Huckleberry Railroad’s narrow-gauge, ex-Denver & Rio Grande 2-8-2 No. 464 and Little River Railroad 4-6-2 No. 110 and you have the makings of a respectable steam season.

The producers let their excellent videography do the talking: They live up to their promise of “minimal narration.”

Kevin P. Keefe

Review from Trains Magazine, July 2010, Vol.70, Issue 7, Page 67

Nicely Done DVDs

Midwest Steam 2009, Parts 1 and 2

These nicely-done DVDs, each lasting approximately 100 minutes, cover the newly-restored Nickel Plate Road #765 at the Hoosier Valley Railroad in North Judson, Indiana; the Little River Road at Coldwater, Michigan; chasing the Southern Pacific #4449 in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan; the Huckleberry Railroad in Flint, Michigan; and the 2009 train festival in Owasso, Michigan, as well as the SP’s all-day excursion from that festival.

Part I of the DVD covers more of the eight operating locomotives at the Owosso festival, as well as the movements by the SP’s #4449 to and from the festival, and the NRHS 2009 convention using Soo Line’s #2729.

With excellent narration, plenty of helpful subheads on the screen and excellent photography, we’re offered a great variety of action run-bys, closeup shots and switching movements of a wide range of steam power that should keep you glued to the couch for a long time.

From the Little River’s #110, to the heavy duty NKP #765, to tank engines, to the Huckleberry’s #464 2-8-2, and the beautifully streamlined and powerful SP #4449, the viewer will be more than pleased with this fast-paced series of train action.

Non-Stop Action

Steamin’ Summer, Volumes 1-3

Here’s a three-pack of DVDs that is sure to get you through the summer and early fall. Sit back and relax as you sample various steam runs and railroad museums from the Rock Island, Illinois Train Festival in 2011 to Southern Railway steam at the Monticello, Illinois Railroad Museum to the Little River Railroad’s #110 steamer celebrating 100 years.

With heat nearing 100 degrees in the Midwest in 2011, this potpourri of steam footage was doubly appreciated by railfans; but the cabs of the steam locos were pretty uncomfortable. In Volume I, the Little River Railroad in Coldwater, Michigan threw a three-day party for their 100-year-old 4-6-2 Pacific logging locomotive. Three visiting tank engines, Viscose Company #6, Flagg Coal #75, and Lehigh Valley Coal #126 were guests of honor. Little River Railroad #1, also a tank engine, made for a total of five steam engines.

The first two days featured four daily trips between Coldwater and Quincy, each pulled by one of the tank engines, and a longer trip to Hillsdale, Michigan pulled by #110. On day three, all five engines teamed up to power two trips to Quincy; talk about smoke and steam and action.

Following their operation on the Little River Railroad, all three visiting tank engines participated in the four-day Rock Island Train Festival. This program shows how the engines were loaded on trucks and shipped over the highway.

In Volume 2, which is 80 minutes long, Iowa Interstate Railroad’s two Chinese QJs traveled to the Rock Island festival as a doubleheader, the first day with a passenger consist from Newton to Iowa City. The next day the locos brought a record-setting 55-car freight train to Rock Island. The DVD shows the first look at QJ #6988 after some cosmetic changes and a new whistle made it appear and sound more like a North American steam locomotive. Next the program covers a portion of Nickel Plate #765’s journey across Indiana on the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway.

The Silver Creek & Stephenson at Freeport, Illinois scheduled a Photographer’s Special between the events at Little River Railroad and the Rock Island Train Festival. Great steam action was provided by a 1912 Heisler, plus a Brookville “critter” as well as antique cars and trucks. The DVD goes on to capture more footage at the Rock Island Train Festival, which brought together seven steam locomotives.

In Volume 3, which lasts 87 minutes, the Rock Island Train Festival is again featured, as is seeing the #765 travel home across Illinois to Logansport, Indiana. This chapter features QJ #6988 with an all-day run to Iowa City and QJ #7081 on two Walcott, Iowa trips on Day 3. More coverage begins with the historic diesel-powered Nebraska Zephyr trainset on an all-day journey to Bureau Junction, Illinois and an afternoon Walcott trip. In addition, footage is shown of the doubleheaded QJs returning to Newton, Iowa carrying two Iowa Interstate business cars and a short freight train.

Last, we travel to Monticello where we see the growing Monticello Railway Museum on a warm August weekend. The museum’s newest operating locomotive, Southern #401, a beautiful 2-8-0 built in 1907, is under steam. On display at the museum since 1971, it returned to steam in 2010 and operates one weekend per month. The #401 was brought out of the northern Alabama hill country on three flatcars: one for the boiler, one for the tender and one for an extra set of drivers. The Monticello museum has a large collection of operating diesels, freight and passenger cars, as well as miles of track on which to operate. The museum is located in Illinois Central and Wabash country and features a number of pieces from each of these roads.

I enjoyed all three of these DVDs, from the non-stop action to the broad range of locomotive types to being able to enjoy all these trains and museums without having suffered the terrible heat of summer. All the footage is professionally recorded, and a small four-page information sheet in each DVD holder provides a quick outline of each program.

About Steve

Steve Mitchell is a lifelong rail historian. He has been a photographer starting in his teens and a videographer for more than 25 years, with railroad subjects being a large part of his collection. He has also developed a passion and talent for video editing and creating custom DVD’s.
Read more to see what Steve has to say for himself…